Initiative For Indigenous Futures

Initiative For Indigenous Futures

Second Life and Machinima – Eastern Bloc

Location: Eastern Bloc, Montreal, QC

Date: January 23rd, 30th, & February 6th, 2016

Duration: 3 days

Instructors: Skawennati, Darian Jacobs, Erica Perreault

Overview: A three-day workshop held at Eastern Bloc where participants learned the basics of Second Life and machinima production. Three groups of participants used the skills they learned to create their own short machinima movies.

Otherworldly Nature Documentary. 2016.

by Anna Eyler & Nicolas Laointe

This project functions as a formal exploration of the Second Life environment framed as an otherworldly nature documentary.

The Gift. 2016.

by Eli Larin

Based on The Gift, a Star Trek Voyager episode, this short Second Life video takes place on the star ship Voyager, in its jail cell. Seven of Nine, a Borg who’s just been disconnected from her collective, tries to come to terms with her new freedom. Captain Janeway helps her by convincing her of the strength to be found in individuality and Seven’s new collective; the human race.

On Day 1 participants focused on learning the basics in Second Life, how to navigate the virtual environment, customize their avatars, communicate with others in-world and how to build 3D objects. View our blog entry about Day 1.

Days 2 & 3 were devoted to creating their machinimas. Participants were asked to choose a simple scene from a movie or music video to then recreate and film within Second Life. On Day 2, participants shared with the group their chosen idea for their machinima and then began creating the characters and sets needed. View our blog entry about Day 2.

On Day 3, participants used screen capture software to film the scenes within Second Life and then proceeded to editing their screen captures into a Machinima using film editing software. View our blog entry about Day 3.

We would like to give a shout-out to our fantastic participants for their hard work and dedication. Please take the time to view their works above.